Extreme ℓ-boson stars

Abstract

Abstract A new class of complex scalar field objects, which generalize the well known boson stars, was recently found as solutions to the Einstein–Klein–Gordon system. The generalization consists in incorporating some of the effects of angular momentum, while still maintaining the spacetime’s spherical symmetry. These new solutions depend on an (integer) angular parameter ℓ, and hence were named ℓ-boson stars. Like the standard ℓ = 0 boson stars these configurations admit a stable branch in the solution space; however, contrary to them they have a morphology that presents a shell-like structure with a ‘hole’ in the internal region. In this article we perform a thorough exploration of the parameter space, concentrating particularly on the extreme cases with large values of ℓ. We show that the shells grow in size with the angular parameter, doing so linearly for large values, with the size growing faster than the thickness. Their mass also increases with ℓ, but in such a way that their compactness, while also growing monotonically, converges to a finite value corresponding to about one half of the Buchdahl limit for stable configurations. Furthermore, we show that ℓ-boson stars can be highly anisotropic, with the radial pressure diminishing relative to the tangential pressure for large ℓ, reducing asymptotically to zero, and with the maximum density also approaching zero. We show that these properties can be understood by analyzing the asymptotic limit ℓ → ∞ of the field equations and their solutions. We also analyze the existence and characteristics of both timelike and null circular orbits, especially for very compact solutions.